


all over again

by VeloxVoid



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, Love Confessions, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Post-Canon, Reunions, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27167344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeloxVoid/pseuds/VeloxVoid
Summary: Zuko has fled from the title of Fire Lord — has relinquished his true status in pursuit of a normal life. The only normal life he knows resides back in the Jasmine Dragon, the tea shop tucked away in a corner of Ba Sing Se.Years later, somebody visits. Somebody familiar. Sokka is the last person Zuko expects to see, but try as he might, he can’t help falling for him all over again.
Relationships: Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	all over again

The title of Fire Lord hadn't been for him.

Zuko stood by the window, gazing out at the sunrise behind Ba Sing Se’s palace in the distance — at the saffron glow bleeding into the azure sky.

Another day was beginning. Another day in the rest of his small, unassuming new life; away from the Fire Nation, and from the woes that had accompanied his rightful status, Zuko felt he could be himself. Thus, he smiled. He turned around, facing his small bedchamber that had been built into the back of the Jasmine Dragon.

It was time to get to work.

Shouldering through the bedroom door and into the shop, Zuko collected his apron from behind the counter. The shop was quiet in the mornings — no clattering of teacups on saucers, nor chatter of customers. Blue jays chirped outside, a slight breeze rattled the window’s shutters, but otherwise, silence embraced the tea shop. Zuko closed his eyes and inhaled, picking up on the fresh scents of morning air and tea leaves — mellow, earthy chamomile, and sharp, tangy blueberry.

He couldn’t resist a smile from creeping across his lips.

Crossing the room, he reached the Jasmine Dragon’s front doors and pulled them open to be met with an empty street. Most of the city still slept, but Zuko had found he liked the calm of morning. The breeze tousled his hair, blowing it momentarily from out of his eyes.

Since returning to Ba Sing Se, he had allowed his hair to grow out again in the way he once had in exile. It fell into his eyes, tickling at his eyebrows and getting in the way, but he didn’t mind. It hid his scar. Granted, a few of his more noble customers knew of his identity already — no amount of hair hiding his face could change that — but the less attention he drew to himself, the better. This was his life now — his new life; he wanted it to be as fresh as possible. Zuko had become Lee again, dressed in basic Earth Kingdom robes — dark green and yellow — with his hair loose and reaching down to his shoulders.

He was new, and he liked it. Running the Jasmine Dragon on his own proved difficult with no other wait staff to help him; sometimes it could grow lonely without the comforting presence of his uncle, but the challenge was welcome. He was growing, becoming his own person. Away from the life and the woes he’d left behind.

He shook his head, shooing those thoughts away.

Working his way around the shop opening each window’s shutters, Zuko chose instead to wonder about who he’d face throughout the day.

Of course, his first customer would be Zhi Ruo. The young woman who ran the massage parlour down the street would visit the Jasmine Dragon every day without fail on her way to work. This morning, she was right on time; Zuko prepared a White Lotus Tile tea for her and watched her take her usual seat by the door, looking out of the window almost pensively. He wondered what plagued her — why she was always so quiet and withdrawn. Why she reminded him so much of himself.

But, he supposed, it was none of his business.

The rest of the day passed normally; Zuko made small talk with customers, endured a noble’s scathing complaints of the tapioca being “too chewy”, had tried his hardest to explain that tapioca _was_ chewy… He served the blends he’d perfected long ago under his uncle’s watchful eye, and missed the old man dearly. Same old, same old.

By nightfall, Zuko was exhausted. The shop closed at dusk, the customers filtered out slowly, and Zuko took up his usual evening chore of wiping clean each table while fighting off a yawn. Only once he’d reached the counter, scouring rings of tea from out of the wood, did he hear the voice.

The words that spoke up from behind him made his muscles freeze, stilling him at once. They sent chills down Zuko’s spine — made his each hair stand on end. His feet became rooted to the spot.

“So, this is the place.”

 _No,_ he thought as the ice spread through his nerves. _It can’t be._

But it was.

Zuko turned slowly to see the low evening light illuminating a figure in the doorway. Dregs of amber sunlight kissed the man’s deep olive skin, highlighting his chocolate-brown hair in a golden halo. While Zuko didn’t want to believe it — wanted to bury the sensation of butterflies that had risen immediately in his stomach — the thick Water Tribe robes the man was bundled in signalled only one person.

“Sokka,” he breathed. No other words came to mind. His heart began to pound hard in his chest, making blood surge through his ice-filled veins to bring a blush to his cheeks.

He’d never expected to see Sokka again.

“Glad I found you,” the other man said, adjusting the straps of his bulging rucksack. “I was scouring the city all day looking for this place again.”

But Zuko didn’t understand. “What are you doing here?” he asked, taking tentative steps forward.

Sokka crossed the Jasmine Dragon towards him. “I thought I’d come and visit,” he said, a smirk lighting up his eyes.

It was as though no time had passed. The way Sokka moseyed through the shop, casual and composed, made Zuko feel as though he were a boy again — as if he hadn’t abandoned the Fire Nation’s throne without a single word to run away. He almost couldn’t believe that it had been a decade since they’d seen each other. Everything felt… normal again.

Almost normal. 

Zuko couldn’t keep one feeling buried — couldn’t ignore one fact. He had spent every waking moment over the past ten years reminiscing the memories of his time spent with Sokka. He had yearned to have him back — to hear his laugh, see his smile, touch his skin one last time—

Zuko swallowed, and felt hot breath pass through his lips as he exhaled. Still Sokka came towards him, glancing around the tea shop with an almost insouciant air.

“Huh,” he sniggered. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Zuko felt his cheeks flush more intensely. Suddenly, he became conscious of what he looked like — the silly light green apron he wore with a pattern of a dragon stitched into it, the way his hair hung limp around his jaw and shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he stuttered, looking around the shop. “I wish I’d known you were coming. I could’ve… prepared you some tea, or a meal, or—”

“Man, Zuko!” Sokka laughed. “Calm down, I don’t need a party or anything. I’m just here,” and he reached Zuko at last, placing one hand in his pocket, “... for you.”

Zuko felt himself shudder. His heart pounded harder, making his skin prickle with sweat, but at the same time his blood ran cold. _Bury the feelings. Ignore it._

Sokka smiled up at him, delight dancing in his eyes. He was still shorter than Zuko — just by an inch or so — but that fact brought him a chuckle. Their height had been a cause of bickering in the past, and Zuko felt a brag rise instinctually to his throat.

He couldn’t voice it, though. Instead, his lips parted uselessly as he came to a realisation.

_He’s still so beautiful._

His cool, calm irises, swimming like pools of crystalline water, shone out fantastically against the warm tones of his face. He cocked his head as an easy smile embraced his lips; the wolf’s-tail that his hair was tied up into looked longer now, with loose curls winding through it.

“Where are you staying?” Zuko asked to distract himself, his voice a rasp.

Sokka folded his arms. “Huh, I hadn’t thought of that. I was gonna just camp outside the walls, but… y’know, if you have any better options…”

_Damn it._

Unable to resist any longer, Zuko crossed the small gap that stood between them in the shop and pulled Sokka into him. Strong arms wrapped around him at once, and the other man’s chilly face buried into Zuko’s neck. He felt hot breath against his skin, long eyelashes tickling him gently as Sokka’s eyelids fluttered shut.

Zuko inhaled deeply, taking in the faint scent of the other man’s musk that he’d dreamt of so much. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

“I’ve missed you too,” Sokka responded at once.

Thoughts swam uselessly inside of Zuko’s head as he basked in the moment, flickering frantically throughout his skull. He fought to rifle through them, to find one he could voice. _Say something,_ he urged himself. But it was useless. He simply held onto Sokka — onto the man he loved so dearly.

He had so much to say. Not a day had gone by, in the decade it had been since they’d last seen each other, in which Zuko hadn’t thought of Sokka. Eventually, regret had consumed him; _why_ hadn’t he been able to confess? Why, instead of standing up and facing Sokka — admitting the pure, unrelenting adoration he felt for him — had he fled? Why had he been such a _coward?_

He had no answers. But being in his arms, breathing in his scent, feeling his heart beat against his, everything felt right. Everything was forgotten.

“I’m sorry,” Zuko merely whispered.

“Don’t be,” Sokka murmured back. "I am too."

Only then did they pull apart from one another. Zuko could do nothing but stare — stare into Sokka’s fantastic sapphire eyes, watching them crease in a smile more by the second.

“What are _you_ sorry for?” he asked him.

Sokka’s face twisted into something almost bashful — an expression that didn’t suit him, but made him look dashing nonetheless. “I dunno, I… I don’t think I was thinking straight when I set out to come and find you. To be honest… I don’t think I’m thinking straight even now.”

 _Neither am I,_ Zuko wanted so desperately to joke. But this wasn’t the right moment. “What are you thinking, then?” he asked instead.

“I’m thinking… I need a damn chair.” Sokka turned and headed to the nearest table, taking a chair and waiting as Zuko sat in the one opposite. Once both comfortable, he sighed. “I was just thinking that I missed you.”

“I think that too,” Zuko admitted. _More than you could imagine._

“It’d been so long, Zuko. You disappeared from the throne without a trace.” Concern etched itself into the lines of Sokka’s face. He looked older, Zuko realised suddenly. Not like the teenager he remembered, but a man now. How was it possible for him to have changed so much, and yet so little at the same time?

“I’m sorry,” he said again, shaking his head. “I thought it would be better... for everyone. I wasn’t cut out for the title of Fire Lord.”

Sokka flashed him a devilish side-smirk. “Lucky for us, I knew just where to find you.”

Zuko shrugged and gave him a smirk in return. “Took you long enough.”

“You’re still a jerk then, huh?” Sokka laughed. He leaned one elbow on the table, resting his chin in his palm. “Your hiding place wasn’t exactly subtle.”

“Who said I was hiding?”

“You! Mr. _‘Brooding In My Uncle’s Old Tea Shop’!”_

Zuko let a false scowl play around his lips. “Maybe the reason I hid was to get away from this… abuse.”

“Abuse!?” Sokka gave a roar of laughter.

“All I ever get from you is abuse, then _and_ now! Really Sokka, I thought in ten years you might’ve grown up a little.”

“Me? Ha!” He held his chin up high, puffing out his chest. “Not me! Forever young and proud!”

Zuko couldn’t resist grinning at that. _Damn._ It truly was like no time had passed. Sokka still pulled the exact same antics that had made Zuko fall head over heels for him all that time ago. He hadn’t changed a bit.

And neither had Zuko’s feelings for him.

“Hey, uh,” he started, clearing his throat awkwardly. “I don’t suppose you’re hungry, are you?”

Sokka’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? I could eat a whole sky bison.”

“Please don’t.”

A youthful smirk was directed at him. “Why, do you have dinner in mind?”

“There’s a restaurant in the centre of town that stays open pretty late. If you’d like to eat there…”

“Sure would.” And, giving him eyes that danced with glee, Sokka stood from the table.

Zuko followed suit, removing his apron and draping it over the back of the chair. When he turned to Sokka, however, his heart leapt to his throat. The other man held out his hand towards him, fingers outstretched. Tentatively, Zuko took it, and felt butterflies burst throughout his stomach, making his heart skip a beat.

“Lead the way,” Sokka told him.

And Zuko did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope to upload more soon, but if you'd like to catch up with me in the mean time, I'm [@VeloxVoid](https://twitter.com/VeloxVoid) on Twitter!


End file.
